Poll: Israeli Arabs Overwhelmingly Choose Clinton

While polls have shown mixed attitudes among Israeli Jews as to whom they wish to see as the next U.S. president, Israeli Arabs have no qualms or doubts. A poll released Monday shows that 76 percent of Israeli Arabs prefer to see Hillary Clinton in the White House.

The poll of a representative sample of 1,600 respondents, conducted by the Panet news organization – which sponsors the widest-read online news source among Israeli Arabs – indicates that the large Arab support for Clinton is due to the fact that they do not believe that Donald Trump will be able to restart the peace process. Of those polled, 85 percent said that Trump would be “unable” to push the peace process forward, with only 15 percent believing that he could or would. In addition, 78 percent said that they did not “trust” Trump. Two-thirds also said they disagreed with his declared policy of severely limiting legal immigration into the United States, while 33 percent said they understood why such a policy might be necessary.

While reports in the Israeli and Arab media said that residents of more conservative Arab countries were troubled by the possibility that a woman could lead the world’s most powerful country, Israeli Arabs for the most part have no trouble with the possibility, with 76 percent saying that there was no reason a woman could not be president of the United States.

The poll also queried respondents on the nature of relations between Israel and the United States. Fifty-nine percent said that the U.S. has a great deal of influence on events in Israel, while 17 percent said that America’s influence was “moderate,” and 24 percent said it was “low.” In addition, 65 percent said they believed the results of the election would have a great deal of impact on the Israeli Arab community, while 12 percent said it would have a moderate impact, and 23 percent said the impact would be small.